I am an 18 yr old male. For as long as I can remember, I constantly regurgitated food, rechewed it and swallowed again. This was most common with a full stomach. This is done semi-voluntarily. This means that I can consciously suppress it, but for some reason, I choose not to.

When I first complained about this to my parents (maybe when I was 10), they spoke to their physician friends and decided it was weakness of the sphincter and that it requires surgery. They thought it was best to advice me to eat smaller meals in order to avoid surgery.

Today, for no real reason, I decided to search the internet to try and self-diagnose this. Weakness of the spinchter is marked by involuntary regurgitation during sleep, or bending movement. All regurgitation that I experience is at least somewhat voluntary.

I am of above normal intelligence. I do get blue from time to time, but it has never lasted for more than a week. (there was actually reasons behind it when it did happen for a week), and so far, I have not experienced any physical problems due to the regurgitation.

How concerned should I be? Right now, I'm incredibly concerned. Who should I see first, a psychiatrist or a gastroentrologist? I am tempted to try and forget about it, is that a good idea? I really wish i never looked into it in the first place.

I would really appreciate any input from a physician or a psychiatrist.

Since you have been doing this regurgitation for as long as you remember I would first suggest you make a serious effort to try to limit this behavior since you state it is a semi-voluntary event.

You might try to create a warning signal for yourself. For example, when you get the urge to do this, you make a deliberate effort to send your conscious mind the message to “STOP!”. It might be you have only developed a habit with this behavior (for whatever unknown reason) and need to do a bit of work to consciously take control of the urge to regurgitate.

Since you are regurgitating recently consumed food, you may not be seeing any immediate physical problems but over time stomach acid which quite possibly is entering your esophagus can cause erosion of the tissue which could ultimately lead to a serious esophageal bleed not to mention damage you will be doing to your teeth in the meantime.

If you do not feel you can correct this behavior on your own you seriously should seek help with issue. This is not a healthy habit and yes, you should be concerned, very much so.

You sound as if you are concerned enough about this to put this down in writing so please take another step and consult with your physician and let him decide if or not you should be referred to a specialist.